DRI Europe Annual Meeting

Thursday, August 23, 2007

VOLUME 1 ISSUE 1

Feature Articles

EU Class Actions – A Threat to Corporate Europe?
by Paul Llewellyn

Articles and comments on the possibility of class actions in Europe are now common, prompted in particular by the publication of a series of EU Commission policy documents, national proposals for procedural reform and the opening of European offices by U.S. claimant class action firms determined to exploit what they see as the increasingly fertile territory in Europe for U.S. class action style claims.
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Seeking Discovery in U.S. Courts to Aid in Foreign Proceedings

By Shook, Hardy & Bacon partners

Gregory L. Fowler (Kansas City) and Sam Sebree (Geneva)

and associate Marc Shelley (Geneva)

Litigants outside the U.S. have typically taken comfort from differences that may exist between their jurisdictions and the U.S., with its perceived excesses of class actions, contingency fees, punitive damages and sweeping discovery. While there has been much recent discussion regarding the export of U.S. litigation themes, particularly the advance of class action models, there is one home-grown measure that need not be replicated abroad for foreign litigants to avail themselves of a true U.S. remedy. Discovery for non-U.S. parties may now become ever more accessible, thanks in part to a broader interpretation of a statute titled “Assistance to Foreign and International Tribunals and to Litigants Before Such Tribunals,” 28 U.S.C. §1782 (2006).
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Leader Spotlight

Alejandro Ferreres Comella

Alejandro Ferreres Comella is a lawyer in the Barcelona office of Uría Menéndez. He joined Uría Menéndez in January 1997, having previously worked for the litigation firm Pou d' Avilés i Associats since 1992. He became a partner of Uría Menéndez in 2005.

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Publications

Products Liability Defenses

DRI’s latest Defense Library Series release is a concise, practice-oriented compilation and discussion of the law of products liability and the various defenses that can be raised to products actions in each state and other jurisdictions. Each chapter is written by a top lawyer with deep experience defending products actions in his or her state. The compendium describes and analyzes the various statutes and judicial decisions that govern products liability in each jurisdiction. In addition to the 50 states, the book covers the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Canada, the European Union, and several nations in the Asia/Pacific Rim area.
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